Kay Yoon-Flannery, DO, MPH, FACS, chief of Women’s Oncology at AtlantiCare in Egg Harbor Township, NJ, was the first breast surgeon in the US invited to train on the da Vinci Single Port (SP) robotic surgical system in South Korea. Following recent FDA clearance of the platform, she now performs robotic nipple-sparing mastectomy at AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center’s Atlantic City campus, making AtlantiCare the first health system in the tri-state region to offer the procedure.
In this conversation with CancerNetwork®, Yoon-Flannery explained how the single-port platform’s 3D visualization compares with traditional multiport robotic surgery and conventional open techniques. She described how the added depth and clarity help surgeons plan and execute dissection with more precision, and why, after observing the difference firsthand, she wished patients could see the surgical view for themselves and understand what draws surgeons to the platform.
Transcript:
I wish that we could share the 3D visualization that we’re able to do on the single-port robotic platform. It makes things much easier for us to visualize internally. Ultimately, it makes the dissection a lot more precise. I was just talking to somebody recently about what the difference is. When you do open surgery, obviously, the advantage is that it’s direct visualization, but it’s 2D visualization in a very confined amount of space, so it may sometimes be difficult to get to that perfect procedure that we surgeons all want. The robotic tool gives us that clear advantage to identify the structures more clearly and to map out where you need to be in a very precise manner. I always wish that we could replicate this somehow to show the patients, so that they can understand exactly why we’re so excited about this tool.
Reference
AtlantiCare Health Network. AtlantiCare first in region to offer robotic nipple-sparing mastectomy using da Vinci Single Port system. News release. AtlantiCare Health Network. July 13, 2026. Accessed July 27, 2026. https://tinyurl.com/3w5tz4ux
